diff --git a/src/uu/numfmt/src/numfmt.rs b/src/uu/numfmt/src/numfmt.rs
index ef7bc2cbde7..304727c2a7e 100644
--- a/src/uu/numfmt/src/numfmt.rs
+++ b/src/uu/numfmt/src/numfmt.rs
@@ -577,6 +577,7 @@ pub fn uu_app() -> Command {
                 .long(DELIMITER)
                 .value_name("X")
                 .value_parser(ValueParser::os_string())
+                .allow_hyphen_values(true)
                 .help(translate!("numfmt-help-delimiter")),
         )
         .arg(
@@ -626,7 +627,8 @@ pub fn uu_app() -> Command {
             Arg::new(PADDING)
                 .long(PADDING)
                 .help(translate!("numfmt-help-padding"))
-                .value_name("N"),
+                .value_name("N")
+                .allow_hyphen_values(true),
         )
         .arg(
             Arg::new(HEADER)
@@ -656,7 +658,8 @@ pub fn uu_app() -> Command {
             Arg::new(SUFFIX)
                 .long(SUFFIX)
                 .help(translate!("numfmt-help-suffix"))
-                .value_name("SUFFIX"),
+                .value_name("SUFFIX")
+                .allow_hyphen_values(true),
         )
         .arg(
             Arg::new(UNIT_SEPARATOR)
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_numfmt.rs b/tests/by-util/test_numfmt.rs
index 4db86944771..a17e634bd25 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_numfmt.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_numfmt.rs
@@ -143,6 +143,41 @@ fn test_negative_padding() {
         .stdout_is("1000    \n1100000 \n100000000");
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn test_negative_padding_as_separate_arg() {
+    // A negative padding value passed as its own argument (not attached
+    // with `=`) must not be mistaken for a new, unrecognized flag.
+    new_ucmd!()
+        .args(&["--from=si", "--padding", "-8"])
+        .pipe_in("1K\n1.1M\n0.1G")
+        .succeeds()
+        .stdout_is("1000    \n1100000 \n100000000");
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_suffix_hyphen_leading_as_separate_arg() {
+    // A hyphen-leading suffix value passed as its own argument (not
+    // attached with `=`) must not be mistaken for a new, unrecognized
+    // flag.
+    new_ucmd!()
+        .args(&["--suffix", "-x"])
+        .pipe_in("5\n")
+        .succeeds()
+        .stdout_is("5-x\n");
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_delimiter_hyphen_leading_as_separate_arg() {
+    // A hyphen-leading delimiter value passed as its own argument (not
+    // attached with `-d-x`/`=`) must not be mistaken for a new,
+    // unrecognized flag.
+    new_ucmd!()
+        .args(&["-d", "-x", "--field=1"])
+        .pipe_in("5-x6")
+        .fails()
+        .stderr_contains("the delimiter must be a single character");
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn test_header() {
     new_ucmd!()